https://www.thedailybeast.com/that-was-a-lie-trump-lawyer-todd-blanche-brawls-with-michael-cohen
As a case that at its core is about falsifying business records, it mattered that Cohen on Tuesday told prosecutors he specifically recalled phoning Trump’s bodyguard on Oct. 26, 2016, having him pass the phone to the boss and getting the politician to personally greenlight the hush money deal.
But the jury was treated to a surprise on Thursday, when Blanche cast doubt on whether Cohen really spoke to Trump that night about the hush money deal—if he spoke to Trump at all.
Blanche did so by bringing up an unexpected topic: the way a prank caller who had bombarded Cohen with calls but slipped up by accidentally forgetting to mask his number on a single attempt. In a string of seemingly aimless questions, Blanche soon revealed the point of bringing it up: In reality, Cohen had an entirely different reason to call Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller that night.
“This number has just been sent to secret service,” Cohen texted the other person, citing “your ongoing and continuing harassment.”
The person on the other line freaked out, rapidly texting “it wasn’t me,” then “my friend told me to call,” followed by “I’m sorry for this,” and “I won’t do it again.”
But Cohen, then a take-no-shit lawyer who was accustomed to intimidating journalists who would ever criticize Trump, leveraged his newfound power as personal attorney to the presidential candidate.
“You will need to explain this to secret service as we’ve been receiving dozens of these harassing calls over the past 3 days. I suggest you notify your parent or guardian,” Cohen texted back.
“I DIDNT DO IT,” the other person pleaded. “Im 14.”
“Please have your parent or guardian contact me,” Cohen texted, before following up with “before secret services reaches out to them.”
After reviewing the exchange in court, Blanche then directed the jury’s attention back to that pivotal hour on a Wednesday evening in October 2016. That’s when, digital documents show, Cohen reached out to the real estate mogul’s bodyguard.
“Who can I speak to regarding harassing calls to my home and office,” Cohen texted Schiller at 7:48 p.m.
Cohen missed Schiller’s call 13 minutes later, then phoned him right back at 8:02 p.m. Records show the call lasted one minute and 36 seconds. Immediately thereafter, Cohen sent him the prankster’s number.
“OK,” Schiller responded seconds later.
The next morning, Cohen followed up.
“Did you reach the family?” he texted Schiller at 7:58 a.m.
These phone records—which tell a wider story than the one prosecutors presented earlier this week—gave Trump’s team an opening to accuse Cohen of fabricating the true purpose of the call.
“That was a lie, because you were actually talking with Mr. Schiller,” Blanche told him.
“Part of it was the 14-year-old,” Cohen demurred, for the first time claiming that the brief call actually had two purposes.
As Cohen spoke, Blanche left the podium and turned left to start pacing in his mid-blue suit and periwinkle tie, holding his left hand to his forehead with an incredulous look on his face. When Cohen was done, Blanche returned to the microphone.
“I asked you five minutes ago if you remember harassing phone calls, and you said no. Then I refreshed your recollection,” Blanche said, racing. “But now your memory is that you were testifying truthfully on Tuesday about a one-minute, thirty-second phone call, and you had enough time to update Mr. Schiller about all the problems you were having... and also update President Trump about the status of the Stormy situation because you always ran everything by the boss? Is that your testimony?”
Cohen asserted that was enough time to cover both issues, pushing the defense lawyer further into overdrive.
Cohen defended himself.
“I believe I told him everything was being resolved,” he said.
“We are not asking for your belief,” Blanche said, referencing the 18 New Yorkers watching the heated argument. “This jury does not want to know what you think happened.”
